Pfc Wickline's remains
were transferred to Plot I Row 17
Grave 21 in the Margraten American Cemetery, Holland
when it was completed following WW-II.
Pfc. Wickline was killed when his chute failed to open on September
17, 1944 during the jump into Holland. His awards include the
Purple Heart
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Dutch filmmaker Marijn Poels
released
the official trailer of ‘Ageless Friends,’ a 60-minute documentary
this week. The story reveals the quest of Maarten Vossen from
the Netherlands about James Wickline, one of the 8301 WWII soldiers
who is buried at the American Military Cemetery in Margraten. The documentary
will premiere June 18, 2016 in the MET theatre, Morgantown, WV.
Ageless Friends
is a moving story of a Dutch boy who creates a friendship with an American
soldier from another time. Documentary maker Marijn Poels followed Maarten
Vossen during a period of four months in both the Netherlands and West
Virginia in his search for Family and friends of the soldier from West
Virginia.
Maarten threw
himself into the story and slowly comes closer to the life of James
Wickline, his parents, friends and acquaintances in West Virginia. “When
I saw that name on that cross, on that white marble cross, James Wickline,
I knew he was someone who sacrificed his life for my freedom, for the
freedom of the Netherlands,” Vossen mentions in the film. The reopening
of the bridge in Osage Morgantown, named after James Wickline, symbolically
makes the connection between West Virginia and the Netherlands.
Filmmaker Poels thinks this story
has become an intriguing one. "Personally, I do not like documentaries
about war" he says. "Nevertheless, I kept fascinated by this story.
What motivates a young boy of thirteen to adopt a grave? What drove
him eventually to start a quest for the person behind the soldier?"
Those are the questions that Poels will bring to attention in this documentary.
For the last thirteen years Maarten was doing the research on ´his´
soldier. "The last trip to Morgantown completed the puzzle for me,"
he says. "The climax for me was the reopening of the bridge, named after
James, near the town of Osage. James grew up there as a child. Quite
extraordinary to receive the sign of the bridge. At that time the puzzle
was complete. " Vossen said.
The premiere
of Ageless Friends will be held on June 18th in the
MET Theatre in James' hometown, Morgantown, WV
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